We'll Take Care Of Him
by ILikeToRhymeHerNameWithThings
Summary: He bent down by James and held onto his hand. "I'll take care of him, Jamsie, I promise, Remus and I, we'll take care of him." He stood up after a couple of minutes. He looked at his brother one last time. "I love you, James."
1. Prologue

"James…" Sirius murmured, wiping his eyes as he walked through the destroyed Potter's house. "Oh God, no, James…" He fell to his knees next to his brother. He slapped him. "Wake up," He pleaded, "Wake up, you can't be dead. You have Harry. You have Lily. You can't be… James, wake up!"

"Sirius, you know they're dead…" Remus muttered from behind him. He wiped his eyes, too, as they stared at their brother laying on the floor, dead. They walked away when Sirius could no longer bear to see the sight. They walked up the stairs to Harry's room. They opened the door. Lily was laying lifeless in front of Harry's crib, tears running down her face.

"Oh my God," Remus muttered, looking up from Lily to Harry's crib. He was standing there, looking at his mother. "Sirius, look.. Harry.." Sirius stood up from beside Lily and stared at the crib.

"How?" He whispered, picking Harry up. "Oh, Harry…"

"Padfoot!" He cried, "Moony!" Remus's tears finally spilled over and he took Harry from Sirius's arms and held onto him as though his life depended on it.

"How in the world is Harry still alive?" Sirius whispered, looking around the room for Harry's emergency bag. Lily had packed it months ago, preparing for the worst. He spotted it by the door and looked around in it. Baby food, cereal, formula, bottles, clothes, diapers… everything was here. He walked over to the closet Sirius looked around again. He bent down and kissed Lily's forehead. "I'll take care of him, Lils, I promise." He stood up and walked out of the room. "Goodbye, Lily. I love you. You were always my sister." He said at the door before walking down the stairs. He bent down by James and held onto his hand. "I'll take care of him, Jamsie, I promise, Remus and I, we'll take care of him." He stood up after a couple of minutes. He looked at his brother one last time. "I love you, James, you were always my brother." He followed Remus out the door, still crying and they held hands for a brief moment before Apperating to Sirius's house.

"We have a crib here," Remus said, opening the door to the apartment. "We have toys, we have his blanky…" He handed Harry to Sirius and walked around the house, looking for everything else that Lily had made sure they had if anything happened to them. "We have his stuffed animals… Except for…" He took the rat that was squirming around between his forefinger and thumb and threw it out the window.

"Remus," Sirius said, sitting on his bed with Harry in his arms. "Harry's going to sleep with me tonight." Remus looked at him with sad eyes. Sirius held Harry closer to his heart. "I just… I want to have James and Lily with me tonight, I want to make sure Harry's alright."

"I understand, Pads," Remus said, bending down to crouch by Sirius's bed and ran his hand threw Harry's messy hair and kissing his forehead. "I'll stay in the guest room, like always." Through his tears, Sirius laughed.

"It's not the guest room anymore, Moony, it's your room." Remus laughed in spite of himself and hugged his brother goodnight, kissed Harry one last time, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Sirius looked down at his godson, beginning to slowly dose in his arms.

"It's okay, Harry," Sirius muttered as he lightly placed Harry on the bed and proceeded to take off his own shoes and jacket and putting on his pajama pants he had left on the floor this morning before picking Harry up again and laying down and putting the covers over them. He looked over at the nightstand and picked up Harry's old blanket with Snitches fluttering around on it. He handed it to Harry and pointed his wand at the light and turned it off. "We'll be okay, just me and you." He kissed Harry again. "And Moony!" Harry added sleepily before turning into Sirius's chest and resting against his heart. "And Moony, too, little bear," He held Harry tighter to his chest. "We'll be okay. I love you, Harry. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, daddy." Harry muttered before falling asleep. Harry's last words broke Sirius's heart as he closed his eyes and tried his hardest to go to sleep.


	2. We'll Be Okay

"That's where the scar hit," Dumbledore murmured the following morning, examining the sleeping Harry in Sirius's arms. "That's where the curse backfired."

"I don't get it, though, Dumbledore," Sirius said, adjusting Harry. "How is it that he lived and Lily and James…."

"I wish I could give you a clear answer to that, but at the moment, I just… I don't know." He ran his hand through Harry's hair and sighed. Remus came out of the kitchen with a spatula in his hand and a towel thrown over his shoulder. His hair was messier than Harry's at the moment, and it was clear that neither him or Sirius slept last night.

"You'll let him stay with us, right, Albus?" Remus said, staring at him with sleepy and pleading eyes. Dumbledore considered the pair of them for a moment. He saw the love and the pleading look in both of their eyes and slowly nodded.

"I-yes, of course." He smiled at Harry sadly. "It's what James and Lily wanted."

"Lily didn't want Harry to live with that awful sister of hers and her whale of a husband…" Sirius muttered as Remus walked back to the kitchen; the bacon was burning and the waffles were done. "They wouldn't've taken care of him." He continued. "They would've thrown him off to the side. Harry's like my own flesh and blood-I love him more than anything, and that's… that's saying something, Dumbledore. Remus and I, we'll take care of him. We have everything we need here and we'll take care of him like he's our own son." He promised Dumbledore. "We'll take care of him. We'll be okay, just the three of us… we'll be just fine." He nodded toward the kitchen. "Remus is going to move in with me, so we can take care of Harry together. He already has his own room… We'll make Harry a room, the one right next to mine. We can make it look just like the one at…" Sirius looked at Harry still sleeping in his arms.

"I know you'll take wonderful care of him, Sirius. You and Remus, you'll take care of him and love as your own, and that's all I can ask for. That's all Lily and James wanted." Dumbledore said softly, nodding at Sirius. He ruffled Harry's hair. "Goodbye for now, Harry Potter…" He looked up at Sirius. "Goodbye, Sirius."

"Bye, Dumbledore." Dumbledore stopped by the kitchen on his way out. "Goodbye, Remus." And he walked out of the house.

"Breakfast's ready, Sirius." Remus called out from the kitchen. He pulled Harry's high chair up and sat him in it carefully before bustling around in the kitchen, looking for some yogurt for Harry. Remus stopped Sirius. "He can just have eggs," He said, steering him back toward the table. "James always fed him eggs."

"Lily always put them in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool them down." Sirius added, sitting down again next to Harry and burying his face in his hands.

"Sirius, you need to eat something," Remus said, sitting down and handing him a plate piled with waffles and bacon and eggs and syrup and he set a cup of steaming coffee next to the glass of orange juice. Sirius looked up at Remus with dead eyes.

"I can't." He said as he got up and walked to the freezer to retrieve the eggs for Harry's breakfast. "Wake up him, will you?" He added as he poured some milk into his favorite sippy cup.

"He's already awake," Remus murmured. Sirius sat down and began to feed Harry his eggs. "Sirius… you need to eat something." He was nearly begging now. "You know what big fess Lily would make of this."

"I know, Remi. I know." He handed Harry his sippy cup. "He… He called me daddy last night, Remus." Sirius looked at his brother with the same dead and haunted eyes. "It broke my heart." Remus stared at Sirius for a moment.

"You _do_ kindasortamaybe look like James." He contested. "But.. Sirius… I don't think we'll _ever _be able to take their place."

"I _know_ that! I'm not saying I _want_ to, it.. it just broke my heart, you know? Lily and James won't get to see him grow up. Harry won't ever _really_ know his parents. He'll just have us." Sirius laughed a little. "You're more like Lils, though, so he'll be raised right… for the most part, whereas I'm more like Jamesie and… he'll be getting in a whole lotta trouble." They both laughed.

"Sirius… what are we gonna do about Peter?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius's eyes flashed dangerously.

"We can't really do anything… without.. getting arrested."

"Yes, we can." Remus countered.

"Well, maybe _you _can, but I sure as hell can't." Sirius said, giving Harry his spoon, smiling softly. Harry smiled at him and attacked his eggs with enthusiasm. "I want him _dead_." His smile was gone and his eyes were dangerous as he turned to look at his brother.

"I _know_ you do, Sirius. I _know_ you do. But that can't happen, 'cos we have Harry to take care of now. We can't leave him. We just can't."

"I know that, Remus!" Sirius was getting irritated. "We can't do anything! That's my point! Unless you want to go out there and do your gay little therapy talk with him, then go on ahead! It's not my fault, though, if you get arrested!" He slammed his fork down angrily.

"Calm down!"

"Yeah, Remus, like you're not angry about this! James and Lily are DEAD, Remus! They're not coming back! You don't think I want Pettigrew dead? I want him to suffer! I want him dead! But we can't do ANYTHING because we have Harry now! If we do anything, we'll be arrested! Oh, don't you _dare _give me that look, 'cos you _know_ it's true! We both want him _dead_, Remus! I know you do! James and Lily shouldn't be dead! Harry shouldn't be living with us! Pettigrew should be the one that's dead! Not James and Lily!"

"Sirius," Remus said quietly. "Would you be just as angry had it'd've been James or Lily that had given Peter away for something?"

"No! Because my Jamesie and my Lily Flower wouldn't've betrayed ANY of their friends!" Sirius was nearly shouting now. Harry had paid no attention to their argument and had figured out how to take the lid off of his sippy cup and was now pouring his milk onto his eggs and laughing gleefully. "You know how they both were! Lily even stuck to Snape the whole time until he called her a… well, you know. But James! He NEVER even thought about EVER betraying his friends! Remus! We were his family! We were Lily's family! But… no… Pettigrew had to go and destroy our family apart and Harry's left with no parents, just the two of us!"

"Dammit, Sirius, shut the hell up and calm down!" Remus yelled. Sirius glared at him and sank slowly back into his chair, breathing heavily. "I need you to listen to me."

"What?" He snapped.

"You have to grow up. We have a child to take care of. I know you hate me for saying that, but it's true. You know it is." He sighed. "You also have to watch your language. I know that's gonna be the hardest of them all…" They both laughed.

"Remus, what are we gonna do on the full moon?" Sirius suddenly asked. Remus looked at his full plate for a moment.

"Molly and Arthur Weasley. They live down the way, just a couple miles. They have a little boy that's around Harry's age." Remus said slowly. "But I dunno, Sirius. I mean… you don't have to come with me."

"Remus, I have to." Sirius said firmly. He turned to face Harry and smiled. "What are you doing, my little Prongslet?" He chided playfully, taking Harry out of his high chair and wiping his hands of eggs and milk. Harry just laughed and squirmed around in his godfather's arms. Sirius laughed along with him. "Time for a bath, Prongslet."

* * *

><p>Remus knocked on the door of The Burrow. He had Harry in his arms and Sirius was standing next to him, looking around nervously.<p>

"Remi… Are you sure 'bout this?" He asked quietly. Remus looked at him.

"The full moon is tonight, Pads." He answered. "Besides, they were in the Order, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" The door opened and a short, dumpy sort of witch answered the door with a warm smile and a baby girl, probably about a month or two old, in her arms.

"Hello, hello!" She said warmly. "Hi, Remus, Sirius!" She said as they walked into her house. Six little boys were running about the house, playing and laughing happily. The youngest of the boys walked over to Remus and smiled at Harry, who was smiling, but looking around the room curiously and nervously.

"This is Harry." Sirius said, taking his godson from Remus's arms and holding him close. Molly smiled and leaned down to grin at him.

"Hi, Harry!" She said softly. She looked at him. "You look sooo much like James." She told him, "but you have Lily's eyes." Sirius nodded at her and looked at Remus. Sirius wasn't sure if he liked this idea of his yet. Remus looked back at him with a warning look in his eyes as he sat down across from Molly.

"So, er, Molly," Remus began, rubbing his hands together nervously. "I-we-were wondering… could you possibly take Harry once a month for us? There's just something… There's something we have to do that's important. We wouldn't ask if it weren't for the fact that Sirius is so stubborn." He added with a small smile. Molly listened to him with a great smile on her face. She picked up her little boy that was walking around at her feet.

"Yes, yes, of course I'll watch Harry!" She kissed the little boy's forehead. "When do you need me?"

"Er, yeah… Could you possibly watch him tonight?"Remus asked hopefully. Molly nodded in delight.

"Of course! Just bring him whenever you're ready, just Floo first." She said. Remus and Sirius nodded. Harry had fallen asleep on Sirius's shoulder.

"Thank you so much, Molly." Remus said, grinning as they walked out of the house.

"You're welcome, Remus!" She replied happily as she closed the door behind them.

"I still don't like this idea." Sirius said darkly as he packed up a bag for Harry.

"Then stay home with him!" Remus snapped.

"You know I can't do that." Sirius snapped back. Remus sank down into a chair.

"Sirius, either you stop complaining about this and stay home with Harry or set aside your pride for once in your life and let Molly take Harry for the night so you can come with me."

"Fine…" He sighed and sat down next to Harry, who was playing happily on the floor with his stuffed animals.

"I'm going to go Floo Molly to tell her we're gonna be on our way in a couple minutes, okay?" Remus asked, getting up and walking out of the room. Sirius sighed. It was already seven and he really didn't want to leave Harry with someone he barely knew. Lily would've had a fit. Hell, James would've had a fit. He picked up his godson.

"I don't like this idea very much, my little Prongslet, but… I have to go with Remus. We'll come back and get you in the morning, though, I promise." He said softly. "We won't ever leave you. Nor will your mum and dad. They'll always be in your heart, Harry." He kissed him and followed Remus out of the door.


End file.
